Seoul, Washington agree to suspend ‘Vigilant Ace’ aerial exercise

Gabriel Dominguez, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

22 October 2018

The governments of South Korea and the United States have agreed to suspend this year's iteration of the annual 'Vigilant Ace' aerial exercise to facilitate the countries' ongoing negotiations with North Korea over its denuclearisation.

"Secretary of Defense James N Mattis and Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo decided to suspend Exercise 'Vigilant Ace' to give the diplomatic process every opportunity to continue," US Department of Defense spokesperson Dana W White said in a statement.

"Both ministers are committed to modifying training exercises to ensure the readiness of our forces. They pledged to maintain close co-ordination and evaluate future exercises," added White, pointing out that Mattis had also discussed the issue with his Japanese counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya.

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